Safety and security: Vandalism of CCTV cameras thwarts the fight against crime in Cape Town

In 1999 the City of Cape Town had 12 CCTV cameras. By 2018 the City had installed 1,500.

However, the effectiveness of cameras in reducing crime is being stymied by vandalism and poor investigative officers, the Safety and Security Committee for the City of Cape Town was told at a meeting on Wednesday.

Areas where cameras are installed include Nyanga, Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain, Salt River, Observatory, Woodstock, Green Point, Gugulethu, Goodwood, Parow and Philippi.

In a statement released by the City of Cape Town in 2018, councillor JP Smith said that CCTV surveillance helped “safeguard the communities they serve”.

One of the hot spots is Nyanga, with the police station recording the highest murder rate in the country. Of the 20,366 murders reported in South Africa in 2017-18, Nyanga police station recorded 308. Nine of the 12 police stations with the highest murder records were in the Western Cape, according to Statistics SA’s 2017-18 report.

Barry Schuller, the metro police director, told the committee that vandalism was the biggest issue hampering the effectiveness of cameras in fighting crime.

Technicians normally go in pairs to fix vandalised cameras, but because they were “too scared to go” to some places, in these areas they increased the team of repair technicians to eight.

It would take at least eight hours for technicians to fix the vandalised cameras and there was also the risk of people robbing them of their equipment, Schuller said. It is estimated that the maintenance and repair of cameras cost R6-million in 2017.

Thulani Dasa, a DA councillor in Khayelitsha, complained about the poor response by police to reported crimes. He related a story of his trying to report a crime that had happened close to one of the CCTV cameras only to be told at a police station that “there was no footage available”.

Schuller explained that investigating officers needed to ask to view footage from the CCTV operators. If there was no footage available, either because the camera was off or because it was “looking the other way”, investigating officers would be provided with a letter to this effect.

“That letter would go into the (case) file”. In order to keep track of which officers were approaching Schuller’s offices to request footage, he said: “I have a register of who comes and what cases they’re looking at.”

Schuller said members of the public were required to have a police case number before they could see any footage.

Dasa expressed frustration at the poor follow-through:

“Our hard work is being undermined by the police. That’s what provokes people in the communities.”

Wi-Fi roll-out

Thomas Bosman of corporate services at the City of Cape Town outlined progress in the roll out Wi-Fi in the city.

At present the Wi-Fi roll-out is “under review”, but Bosman — who did not elaborate on the reasons for the review — outlined what the City hoped to achieve when the project was up and running again. He said the City wanted to provide Wi-Fi to more public libraries, sports grounds and taxi ranks.

Bosman acknowledged that the City had not provided Wi-Fi in some areas because they are the “hardest to reach”. His team was gaining the experience to launch the service in more difficult areas, he said. DM